Wasteland Echoer.

"Is that... the 'Creator's Mechanical Heart'?" Wright looked curiously in the direction the Lord of the Night pointed. Although his heart was filled with anticipation for the unknown and curiosity about the "mechanical heart," the great "heart" of the Creator, his legs felt as if they were filled with cement and sealed into the ground, and he dared not move an inch.

“That’s right. Whether it’s the ‘Blood Wolf’ or the ‘Restorers’ of the ‘Dedication Group’, Vasily Voliganov, Shaneva, Nebrius, including David before, and even Ivan XXII, who talked with me until late at night a long time ago, they all had more or less desires for this ‘Mechanical Heart’.” The Lord of the Night slowly walked up to Wright, “looking” at him with his face, which was almost identical to Hoshino Shota’s in appearance, but half of his face was as terrifying as obsidian from the underworld. His voice was exceptionally soft, but powerful enough to explain.

“Desire? Yes, desire. All disasters stem from desire, but all suffering arises from the inadequacy of the person involved,” Wright remarked, trying to avoid the Lord of the Night’s gaze.

However, the Lord of the Night did not give Wright a chance to evade. Instead, he gently stroked Wright's abdomen upwards, as if touching a sacred artifact capable of overturning the world. Finally, his right hand, radiating a black and gold glow, stopped near Wright's chin.

Immediately afterwards, the surrounding yellow sand began to surge again. Although most of the particles were blocked by an invisible barrier constructed with dark energy, some fine dust particles still transformed into a sharp blade, blocking Wright's cyborg heart, which had long been eroded by the "heartless virus".

"Desire brings disaster. Those who desire the 'mechanical heart of the Creator' will face the Creator's punishment through fate. Let them have desire, let desire bathe their bodies, soak their clothes, corrode their blood, and the Creator's darkness will look down upon humanity through the wheel of fate. Ah, they have sinned, and the gods will no longer bestow glory upon them. However, those who repent can spare their lives until the gates of heaven open. Those who are deeply entrenched in it will have their sins permanently separated from their divinity." The Lord of Night gazed into Wright's equally dark eyes and recited with great emotion.

"The contents of 'The Principle,' right? You want to tell me that even if I accepted that 'mechanical heart' at your invitation, I cannot have any desire for it. Otherwise, the lightest punishment is death, and the heaviest punishment is immediate damnation into hell, right?" Wright asked, giving a cold snort.

"Your comprehension is quite good, so I won't recite these obscure poems. In short, as long as desire arises, the Creator will unleash a punishment from the highest dimension. At best, like Vasily, you'll die in battle; at worst, like 'Blood Wolf,' you'll be annihilated in an instant. 'Blood Wolf,' his obsession and desire for 'Mechanical Heart' were too deep, so Hoshino Shota ended his life. But..." The Lord of the Night paused, turning to look at the sphere suspended in mid-air, still radiating chaotic light, and said:
“I see no desire for it deep within you. Perhaps your desire lies elsewhere, or perhaps you possess the ability to disguise your true feelings. In any case, the ‘Creator’s mechanical heart’ is safe for you.”

"Is it safe...?" Wright looked up at the chaotic orb of light slowly descending from the sky. He could clearly sense that a certain emotion deep within him, which was originally extremely calm, was being rapidly amplified. If his inner desires were stronger, or if his perception of the surrounding environment were more acute, or if his mind were more easily disturbed, he would definitely ignore the surrounding environment and rush forward to merge with that "mechanical heart" without any regard for anything else.

They either become its nourishment or are completely burned in the flames, becoming a legend for people to laugh at.

"The Creator is guiding us humans to discover our desires, and you, Lord of the Night, are quietly twisting our desires, aren't you?" As he spoke, Wright swiftly drew the "Mad Bear" pistol from his waist, aimed it at the back of the Lord of the Night's head, and pulled the trigger.

Click!

The first sound was a very crisp clanging of metal parts.

boom!
The second sound was the explosive boom of the gunpowder being struck, followed by a dazzling shower of sparks, like the breath of a dragon.

However, as the Lord of the Night silently activated his "Dark Distortion" skill, the figure in front of him, who belonged to the Lord of the Night, was not affected by any gunfire.

To Wright's astonishment, he realized that the thick yellow sand around him was gradually receding, and the fine sand that had been flying around in the air as if it were alive was falling straight to the ground as if its blood had been drained, and then fell silent.

The back of the Lord of the Night in front of him, like a projected image, flickered several times before twisting inward, emitting a piercing "buzzing" sound of electricity, and suddenly disappeared.

As the quicksand completely dissipated, the bizarre sculptures of "ancient gods" reappeared before the two, their forms a mixture of ferocity and solemnity. The "Creator's Mechanical Heart" also lost its chaotic luster, replaced by a pale golden halo that could be described in words. "This is the truest form of the 'Creator's Mechanical Heart'—a heart of sincerity, steadfastness, courage, compassion, restraint, fierceness, and eternity. Only through these can one dissect the outermost 'shell of desire' of the 'Mechanical Heart' and discover its true nature," the voice of the Lord of the Night echoed from above Wright's head.

Wright turned around defensively, raising his "Mad Bear" pistol once more and aiming it at the Lord of Night who had just touched down to the ground. Such a deity, capable of manipulating minds and distorting thoughts in an instant, was the most terrifying; Wright had never dared to let his guard down from beginning to end.

As he expected, a thin thread, large enough to snap a person in half, appeared out of thin air less than a meter in front of him, now shimmering with the same pure golden light. If he had rushed forward out of trust or anger, he would have experienced the most brutal punishments of the two ancient eras.

“I must admit, I have no way to deal with you, Light Socrates.” The Lord of the Night gently raised his hand, slightly distorted space, and then completely retracted the thin thread, leaving behind a pool of sticky, asphalt-like filth.

“You are more troublesome and more resolute than Ye Mingyuan from the Steam Age. I don’t know if it’s a special blessing from the Creator or your own extremely strong spiritual power, but now I must admit one thing: even the power of a god cannot interfere with your spirit.” After saying this, the Lord of the Night ignored Wright, who still harbored hostility towards him, and walked straight to the “Creator’s Mechanical Heart” that was still spinning and floating above the stone platform.

Then, he looked up and gazed in the direction of the universe, chanting incantations in Masonic language to praise the Creator.

A few seconds later, a petal-shaped tentacle opened straight out from his back, instantly splitting into four pieces, oozing a thick mixture of fluid and blood, and within it a huge eyeball that was slowly awakening.

The eyeball seemed to have grown on the back of the Lord of Night from the very beginning. As the petals continued to unfold, wither, and fall off, the protruding, bulging nerves and blood vessels on its surface also detached from the back along with the cutting of the several unequal wings that had grown on the back of the Lord of Night.

Wright noticed that the act of forcibly removing the eyeballs from the body caused the Lord of Night to suffer pain that went deep into his spinal cord and soul. Even though it reappeared in the world by borrowing Hoshino Shota's lost body, the "heartless virus" could not stop the transmission of this soul pain.

"Ah!" Each time the nerves and blood vessels were separated, the Lord of the Night couldn't help but wail, his whole body trembling uncontrollably. Even though he still harbored hostility towards the Lord of the Night, Wright had to admire his resilience.

So he simply put the "Mad Bear" pistol back into his waistband and quietly watched this painful act that could perhaps be called a performance.

Finally, with the largest and thickest nerve severed in half, the Lord of the Night completely ripped the eyeball from this body. The eyeball, gradually turning a dark purple from the continuous flow of blood, was stretched as wide as possible by the power of the "Creator," with countless brown roots encircling the already chilling body, and the black and red filthy slime making Wright dare not take a single step forward.

"Go, 'Eye of the Creator,' restore this erased existence. Existence is existence, and having existed is having existed; this is also the content of 'reason.'" The Lord of the Night trembled as he supported his swaying body, slowly rising and pouring the last trace of dark magical power into the "Eye of the Creator."

Soon, the "Eye of the Creator" began to slowly float up into the air, like a wet flower, and as it sank inward, it "embraced" the "Mechanical Heart of the Creator".

At this moment, the "Eye of the Creator" seemed to have completed its mission. After transmitting a final, incomprehensible electromagnetic wave message to the Creator's avatar, it turned into a puddle of mud. Meanwhile, the "Creator's Mechanical Heart," which shone with a dark golden light and was indistinguishable from a real heart, pierced straight into Wright's chest, relying on the ancient rules established by the "Principles of the Creator."

It instantly melted away the original "broken and dilapidated" cyborg heart, replacing it with a real heart. (End of Chapter)